🎬 ~ The Hunger Games

rating: 10/10

ABSOLUTE BANGER WHAT OHMYGOD. man, this was such a good book-to-movie adaptation UGH. the direction, the cinematography, the sound design—it was so on point and i LOVED it. the direction finds a visual way of presenting the narrative from katniss point of view and that makes it seem like the book has literally come to life on the screen. this is when, perhaps, YES i prefer this movie over the book definitely. and BAKERY™ (i.e. my dumb ship name for katniss and peeta) WERE ADORABLE. their chemistry is off the charts and all their interactions were making me compelled to bite my hand to not squeal coz it's the dead of the night and my parents are sleeping. also, i had no idea how LOADED this cast was like JACK QUAID FROM THE BOYS?????? HE EXISTED DURING THIS TIME??? (i kept calling him jack harlow in the beginning. that is not his name) and i heard a familiar song in the credits and was absolutely flabbergasted to find out that it was early era tswift like GURL i do NOT recognise ur voice. all-in-all, YES. 10 outta 10. this is an instance of cinematic brilliance.

📖 ~ The Hunger Games

rating: 5/5

weewoo, look at that—i got josh hutcherson-ed into reading the hunger games hahaha. 90% of all my highlights and updates on goodreads are just me expressing immense disbelief over peeta mellark's character because even though i had a very vague idea of what he was like, he blew my expectations out of the water. i also have a new shipname for the boy with the bread and the girl on fire: bakery. idk if it is unoriginal but i felt it to be a stroke of genius. cinna and mentor dude™ have already endeared themselves to me. aside from these ramblings, on a more serious note, i definitely catch the deeper socio-political commentary and themes of oppression and brutality. it certainly does have an off-putting feel to it. as soon as the games ended and they were taken to a modern jet with state-of-the-art facilities, the feeling of disconnect was so prominent. i'm looking forward to seeing how this story carries forward in the future. and also, i'm happy to read about a smart/strategic protagonist like katniss. it feels natural for her as compared to other "smart" female protagonists these days who just feel superficially so and incredibly artificial.

📺 ~ Loki (Season 2)

rating: 10/10

the day when i rate a marvel project a TEN has come, and what a surprise that it was LOKI. my oh my, this show did everything i did not expect it to do. such stellar writing, performances and development. i had zero expectations for this show. i just thought "lol look another mediocre cash grab from marvel" BUT i was blown out of the water. i heard this season was directed by the moon knight director duo and I APPRECIATE IT SM because the direction and cinematography this season was my favourite of any mcu-disney show to date. the first three episodes were fine in their own right, but they were mostly setup for the latter half of the season, which had my JAW DROPPING. murphy's law, "i want my friends back", "there is no comfort. you gotta choose your burden." I WAS LIVING FOR THIS. the way it goes all the way to the beginning—"i am burdened with glorious purpose"—and ends with loki serving that purpose, initially talking about how he's destined for a throne and finally getting one. like, WOW. mcu did this??? this is officially the best mcu character arc i've seen. i love this show and i love loki. i thought the timeslipping thing was an unnecessary one-off thing at first and was iffy abt it but when i saw the latter episodes i finally understood. man this show just. fjdjsijf. also, miss minutes was borderline terrifying this season. yandere crazed a.i. of your nightmares, for sure.

🎬 ~ Marriage Story

rating: 10/10

watched this on the train and wow—i have no words. the performances, the long oneshots, the dialogues: immaculate. the direction and cinematography were wonderful. noah baumbach, you have done your wife proud. what a great movie, man. i loved how the argument scene escalated and the actors were absolutely killing their lines. also the way the movie bookends with those descriptions >>>. i would definitely recommend this to everyone.

🎬 ~ The Killer

rating: 7.5/10

my first thought upon finishing this was: "i fail to understand the point of this movie."—which i now acknowledge was a bit of a shallow judgement on my part. after ruminating about it and reading a few letterboxd reviews, i have developed a vague idea of the point of this movie. in my mind, this is something like an arthouse-experimental movie, which i admit i have no experience in watching (since i mostly see narrative films) so this was my first. the story is more character-focused, which i can wholeheartedly say it excels at. michael fassbender delivers his performance with, and i quote, "deadpan focus", which is wonderful in its own right. i really liked the single-minded focus into a killer's mind, the slowgoing start, and eventually, the little idiosyncrasies that fracture his beliefs. i had quite a bit of fun watching his thought process come undone, and ultimately, that is what this movie is—it's the unbecoming of a killer. i might've liked watching this if i was sitting still in a dark room because it is certainly an atmospheric movie, but alas, that was not the case. i was frequently interrupted while watching this in two different places, 1 hour apart, and in rooms that were equivalent to neon lights circling in my periphery. liked the movie tho. would recommend for a quiet day.

🎬 ~ Tiger 3

rating: 6.75/10

okay. i watched this ten days ago on release day and the net was crappy so i forgot to write a review. and i don't remember the details so i'll try to go as fast as i can. so umm, i felt like i was seeing a fanfiction come alive on tv?? which is not a compliment. i liked a lot of things. i also did not like a lot of things. we left the theatre early before the end credits so i wasn't able to see hrithik roshan's cameo as kabir from war, which heavily disappointed me coz that was my main reason for going to watch this movie. anyways, i just thought the movie felt redundant. the cinematography was great though. also the entire theatre stood up for the national anthem—that is a thing to remember fr. whatever, it's not my favourite movie of the year ig. damn, i was looking forward to it.

🎬 ~ Five Nights at Freddy's

rating: 8.25/10

yayy, the fnaf movie FINALLY. i remember playing the game as a kid. i was terrified of that rotten doll. the movie's opening scene was chef's kiss wonderful. foxy's creepy humming and singing really got that scene going. the aesthetics and set design in this movie were immaculate. it was like the neon nightmares of a kid, and the enthusiasm the production team had for it really showed. i was more or less fine w the plot, although i was unable to pick up on the serial killer being the same as the career counsellor coz all old white men look the same to me and i watched half of the movie 20 hours apart so my movie experience was also a bit skewed. also, i did not like the inclusion of that police officer lady. she just felt so unnecessary. after hearing a reactor say it, i also have to agree that the emotional beats of this movie were off, or rather stilted. but then again, i don't think that was supposed to be the focus of the movie. the audience is mostly there to see the creepy animatronics and murder and jumpscares. i caught some of the lore coz of my brother and that bare minimum made it more fun. but anyways i liked the movie. twas nice.